Error Analysis
Background
Error analysis, a branch of “Applied Linguistics” that was introduced
by Pit Corder.
Corder noted: “a learner’s errors are significant in that they provide to
the researcher evidence of how language is learned or acquired, what
strategies or procedures the learner is employing in the discovery of the
language.”
To Corder, a learner’s errors are ‘systematic’ and it is precisely this
regularity which shows that the learner is following a set of rules which
are not those of the target language but a transitional form of language
which is also similar to his mother tongue.
Definition
Error Analysis can then be defined as a “technique for identifying,
classifying and systematically interpreting the unacceptable forms
produced by someone learning a foreign language ,using any of the
principles and procedures provided by linguistics”.
It is the process of determining the incidence, nature, causes and
consequences of unsuccessful language.
The importance of EA
Error Analysis is advantageous for both learners and teachers.
(1) For learners, error analysis is needed to show them in what aspect in
grammar which is difficult for them,
(2) whereas for teachers, it is required to evaluate themselves whether
they are successful or not in teaching.
Kinds of Errors
Brown states further that on a rather global level, errors can be
described as errors of addition, omission, substitution, and ordering,
following standard mathematical categories.
A- In English a “do” auxiliary might be added (Does can he hinge?),
B- a definite article omitted (I went to movie),
C- an item substituted (I lost my road),
D- or a word order confused (I to the store went). But such categories
are clearly very generalized.
Within each category, levels of language can be considered: phonology
or orthography, lexicon, grammar, and discourse.
Types of Unsuccessful Language
1- Lapses or Slips: errors that can be quickly detected and self-corrected by the
learner “if given the chance”.
2- Mistakes : can be corrected by the learners in their output if their deviance is
pointed out to them. A mistake is either intentionally or unintentionally deviant and
self-correctable. A mistake is made by a learner because he does not apply the rule
(s) that he actually knows.
3- Errors: Wrong forms that the pupil could not correct even if their wrongness
were pointed out. Error is an instance of language that is unintentionally deviant and
is not self-corrigible by its author. They are of significance since they reflect
knowledge, they are not self- correctable, and we could say that only learners of an
L2 make them.
Types of Errors
Corder classifies two types of errors:
1- Receptive (Processing) Errors : with processing or receptive errors,
students mishear a word in spite of having normal hearing in pure tone
testing. As the contextual examples below illustrate, an error of just one
phoneme in a word can cause a major change in meaning. In many cases,
students “hear” – or at least opt for – a more familiar word.
Teacher: Describe a “air head”.
>> Student reception “Describe a “bare head”.
Student: (Gestures and laughs.) Nothing up there between the ears.
2- Expressive Errors : Errors that occur during the retrieval of a certain
word / expression.
Sources of Errors - NOTEBOOK
Brown (1980:173-181) classifies sources of error into,
1) Interlingual transfer, that is the negative influence of the mother tongue of
learner,
2) Intralingual transfer, that is the negative transfer of items within the target
language. In order words, the incorrect generalization of rules within the target
language;
3) Context of Learning, which overlaps both types of transfer, for example, the
classroom with its teacher and its materials in the case of school learning or the
social situation in the case of untutored second language learning. In a classroom
context the teacher or the textbook can lead the learner to make wrong
generalization about the language;
4) Communication Strategies. It is obvious that communication strategy is the
conscious employment of verbal mechanisms for communicating an idea when
linguistic forms are not available to the learner for some reasons
Communication strategies,
1- Avoidance: When a learner, for example, cannot say “I lost my way” he might
avoid the use of way’ and says “I lost my road” instead.
2-Prefabricated patterns: Another common communication strategy is to memorize
certain stock phrases or sentences without understanding the components of the
phrases or sentences. “Tourist survival” language is full of prefabricated patterns.
3- Cognitive and personality: In answer to “How did you get here?” a person might
be heard to say, “I drove my bicycle” while another might say, “I pedaled my bicycle”
in an attempt to be precise. Language errors can thus conceivably be traced to
sources in certain personal or cognitive idiosyncrasies.
4-Appeal to Authority: The learner may directly ask a native speaker (the authority) if
he gets stuck by saying, for example, “How do you say?”
5- Language Switch: when all other strategies fail to produce a meaningful utterance,
a learner may switch to the so-called language switch. That is, he may simply use his
native language whether the hearer knows that native language or not.
Causes of Error
Norrish (1983:21-26) classifies causes of error into three types that is
carelessness, firs language interference, and translation. The three types
of causes of error will be discussed briefly below.
1-Carelessness: Carelessness is often closely related to lack of
motivation.
2-First language: Learning a language (a mother tongue or a foreign
language) is a matter of habit formation. When someone tries to learn
new habits the old ones will interfere the new ones. This causes of error
is called first language interference.
3-Translation : Translation is one of the causes of error. This happens
because a student translates his first language sentence or idiomatic
expression in to the target language word by word. This is probably the
most common cause of error.
Analyzing Grammatical Errors
1- Error in Using Adjectives:
The purpose of this research was to ascertain and evaluate the
successful of the implementation of housing renovation of integrated
villages …”
2- Error in using preposition
This research was carried out in Banteng Regency with the aims at
identifying (1) the kinds of ability possessed by…’
3- Error in using passive voice
it was happened because most of the farmers sold their cashew nut to
the collectors in the village’.
Miscue Analysis
The term ‘miscue analysis’ was coined by Goodman (1969).
This approach is based on three cueing systems he believed
underlay the reading process: Grapho/phonic (the
relationship of letters to sound system), syntactic (the
syntax/grammar system) and semantic (the meaning system).
Miscue analysis refers to a process of diagnosing a child's
reading. It is based on the premise of analyzing the errors a
reader makes during oral reading.
1- Grapho/Phonic System >
2- Semantic System >
3- Syntactic >
Graphic Miscues
Semantic / Syntactic
1-Does this sound syntactically correct?
2-Is the sentence semantically correct?
3-Did the student’s reading of this sentence change its meaning?